The present invention relates to a saving device for image sharing, such as an image sharing server on a network, as well as an image sharing system and an image sharing method for classifying, saving, and sharing among a plurality of users the image data on a plurality of images offered by the sharer thereof, and more specifically to a saving device for image sharing such as an image sharing server, an image sharing system, and an image sharing method capable of automatically classifying a group of images related to a subject from a large-volume image group offered by the sharer thereof, for instance, a large-volume image group uploaded to a server on a network, and sharing the image data among a plurality of users depending on their personal preference.
In recent years, various image sharing systems configured to share among a plurality of users image data uploaded to a server or the like by a user have been proposed. Among such systems, there have been proposed systems configured to share images by extracting images of each user or images related to each user from a plurality of uploaded image data, and transmitting or enabling browsing of image data that satisfies specific conditions on a per user basis.
For example, with the image exchanging device and method described in JP 2007-293399 A, a large volume of images are shared and exchanged among a plurality of users. In JP 2007-293399 A, a plurality of images are subjected to face detection processing so as to extract those images having a person as the subject, and the extracted images are then subjected to face recognition processing based on face images of the users registered in advance. The images are then automatically classified on a per user (subject) basis, and the classified image data are delivered to the delivery destination of each user. In addition, JP 2007-293399 A describes a conventional method in which sharing of images is carried out by informing by e-mail and the like the URLs of the destinations where digital images are stored.
Further, in JP 2003-150932 A, similar to JP 2007-293399 A, is described an imaging processing device configured to perform face detection processing on inputted images and, in a case where a face is detected, execute face recognition processing by comparing that face with face images registered in advance as reference images, searching for and extracting images of that same person. In JP 2003-150932 A, if a found image was photographed after a predetermined period of time has elapsed from the time the reference image was taken, the found image is updated as the new reference image so as to ensure better searches.
Furthermore, in JP 2005-174308 A is described a method and apparatus for organizing digital media by face recognition. In JP 2005-174308 A, a plurality of image data (digital photographs) is extracted and classified based on categories such as date, event, location, people, etc., so as to organize the image data and enable browsing. For example, when “people” is selected as the category, the image data is subjected to face detection processing and face recognition processing to be classified on a per person subject basis.
In JP 2007-272719 A, it is described that the photographic processing apparatuses provided in different shops and networked with one another notify one another of registered information including the name (ID) of a taken-image file and shop information (position information (IP address) of a photographic processing apparatus on a network) as well as thumbnail images through a network, and a peer-to-peer transfer of a taken-image file is carried out from one photographic processing apparatus to another, based on the registered information, so as to acquire the taken-image file.